It’s still going to be a hot week (it is August after all), but it shouldn’t be quite as brutal as last week, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jack Cullen.

Saturday capped off a scorcher of a week with an all-time high for Aug. 23 of 99 degrees, breaking a record set in 1955. With the heat index, temperatures felt like 110 degrees in some areas.

Ouch.

Basically, we had just the right set of conditions to bring on the sweltering heat, Cullen said.

“There was a big upper level area of high pressure that made for lots of sinking air,” he said. “And as the air sinks, it warms. And it’s been dry lately, so there hasn’t been much moisture in the ground to evaporate to help cool things down.”

That system is supposed to weaken and move westward tomorrow and be replaced by drier air beginning Tuesday. Temperatures still will be in the 90s, but they’ll be lower 90s with less humidity as compared to the higher temperatures and humidity we had last week.

Cullen said nighttime temperatures could feel exceptionally cooler. Lows should be in the mid 70s by the middle of the week.

And the rain we need so badly is likely to find its way to town this week. There’s a 40 percent chance today, 20 percent chances Thursday and Friday and a 30 percent chance Saturday.

“We’ll be back to our normal routine summertime pattern by the end of the week,” Cullen said.

If that’s not enough relief for you, you’ll just need to hold out for a little more than a month and things should begin cool down, Cullen said.